Chap. 877.—An ACT to amend and re-enact sections 13 and 17 of an act
approved March 4, 1896, entitled an act to amend and re-enact an act
entitled an act to provide for a method of voting by ballot, approved
March 6, 1894.

Approved March 6, 1900.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That sections
thirteen and seventeen of an act approved March fourth, eighteen hun-
dred and ninety-six, entitled an act to amend and re-enact an act to
provide for a method of voting by ballot, approved March sixth, eighteen
hundred and ninety-four, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as
follows:

§ 13. Every elector qualified to vote at a precinct shall, when he so
demands, be furnished with an official ballot by one of the judges of
election selected for that duty by a majority of the Judges present.
The said elector shall then take the said official ballot and retire to said
voting booth. He shall then draw a line with a pen or pencil through
the names of the candidates he does not wish to vote for, leaving the title
of the office and the name or names of the candidates he does wish to
vote for unscratched. No name shall be considered scratched unless
the pen or pencil mark extend through three-fourths of the length of
said name; and no ballot, save an official ballot, specifically prepared as
above provided for, shall be counted for any person. When as to any
office, more than one name remains unscratched, or the title of the
office is erased, the ballot for that particular office shall be void, but
the ballot as to any other office for which only one name remains un-
scratched shall be valid. He shall fold said ballot with the names of the
candidates on the inside, and hand the same to the judge of election,
who shall place the same in the ballot box without any inspection fur-
ther than to assure himself that the ballot is a genuine ballot, for which
purpose he may, without looking at the printed inside of said ballot,
inspect the official seal upon the back thereof: provided, it shall be
lawful for any voter to erase any or all names printed upon said official
ballot, and substitute therein in writing the name of any person or
persons for any office for which he may desire to vote.

§ 17. The judges of election, or a majority of them, shall appoint and
designate one of their number, whose duty it shall be, at the request of
any elector who may be physically or educationally unable to prepare his
ballot, to enter the booth with said elector and render him assistance
in preparing his ballot by reading the names and offices to be voted for
on the ballot and pointing out which name or names the said elector
may wish to strike out, or otherwise aid him in preparing his ballot.
In case said elector be blind, said judge of election so appointed
and designated as aforesaid shall prepare said ballot for said elector in
accordance with his instructions; but the said judge shall not enter
the booth with the voter unless requested by him, and shall not in
any manner divulge or indicate by signs or otherwise, the name or names
of the person or persons for whom any elector shall vote. And it shall
be unlawful for any voter to expose his ballot to any person other than
the judge 50 designated as aforesaid, to aid those who may be physically
or educationally unable to prepare their ballots. The said judges, or 4
majority of them, shall have power, from time to time, when and as
often as they may see proper, to change the appointment and designation
of the judge who shall discharge the duties prescribed by this act and
designate another judge in his place and stead to perform the same.
And for a corrupt violation of any of the provisions of this section, the
person so violating the same shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor,
and be confined in jail not less than one nor more than twelve months.